The dollar .DXY also rose on continued bets that the Federal Reserve will have to raise rates next year to keep up with inflation and growth brought by a planned fiscal stimulus from the incoming Trump administration.

“This is just a continuation of the trend” of dollar strength, said Axel Merk, president and chief investment officer of Palo Alto, California-based Merk Investments.

Euro zone bond yields fell across the board as concerns about the strength of a rescue plan for Italian banks and normal year-end caution pushed investors to the safety of government debt.

Germany’s 10-year yields DE10YT=TWEB hit their lowest in seven weeks at 0.181 percent. That in turn widened the yield gap to U.S. Treasuries, which act as the world’s benchmark borrowing rate. The spread was last at 235.25 basis points.

“It’s come from movement on both sides,” said Robert Tipp, chief investment strategist at Prudential.

“Normally, the yields are very highly correlated between the U.S. and Germany, but we’ve actually seen a divergence where Treasury yields have continued to inch higher but Bunds (prices) have rallied and yields have gone in the opposite direction.”

Oil prices edged up for a fourth consecutive session, edging close to their highest levels since mid-2015, ahead of U.S. oil inventory figures and as the market awaits evidence of OPEC supply reductions in the new year.

U.S. crude CLc1 last rose 0.5 percent to $54.17 a barrel and Brent LCOc1 traded at $56.38, up 0.5 percent on the day.

Oil has surged about 50 percent in 2016 even after plunging in January to its lowest in more than a decade.